I currently have the Canon Rebel 2000 35mm SLR camera with its kit lens and a 55mm lens. I am interested in making the cross-over to DSLR, and figured I could buy the Canon DSLR body only and make use of my current lenses.

I wanted to get some advice and opinions about the Canon DSLRs, specifically the Rebel XT 8 mp and XTi 10 mp cameras. I initially thought of the XTi, but after reading some reviews and thinking about it, I do not think the 10 mp would be enough justification for the extra money (besides, eventually there will be a 12 mp and so on and so forth), so I thought perhaps I could get a good deal on the "next to latest and greatest" model.

What are some of your opinions about this camera as compared to the XTi, and would my current lenses be able to take advantage of either camera better than the kit lens ( I have heard most reviewers were disappointed with the kit lenses).

One final question, where would be a good place to get a deal on say a Canon Rebel XT body, I have run across some dubious websites while researching this and I wouldn’t mind buying used or refurbished if its from a trustworthy source. Thanks for your input.

As for your existing lenses, yes, they'll fit on a 350D / XT or 400D / XTi, but remember their focal lengths will all effectively be multiplied by 1.6 times, so you'll lose your wide angle.

Sure, the Canon kit lens aint great, but its the cheapest way to get decent wide angle and improves the value of the body if you ever sell it. Unless you have some decent lenses or intend to buy a better lens with your DSLR, I'd always advise getting it with the kit lens as it's the cheapest workable solution.

I am in the US, and I have visited the reseller ratings site, which is how I found the bogus site based on customer reviews.

So, this 1.6 multiplier is something I did notice in the XTi, is this for all DSLRs, or just Canons? I was going with the body only to save some money and re-use the lenses I do have, I have a 28-80mm which was my Rebel 2000 Kit lense, and a 50mm lens as well. So is the Kit lens with the XT/XTi better than either of these two? If my current lenses are as good as the kit lens, I dont think I need the kit lense. Losing the wide angle would be annoying, but swaping out lenses is annoying too. Does the 1.6 multiplier affect the f-stop and the amount of light let in (for example, my 28-80 lense becomes 45-128, does it reduce the amount of light and mess with my settings)?

Another question I had but havent researched yet was the black and white feature on the XT vs the XTi, I noticed the XTi has a monochrom setting, and read in the reviews that the XT can convert to black and white....does the XT have a monochrom setting as well, or do you simply change the color scheme of the image in photoshop?

Almost every other DSLR manufacturer, like Nikon, Sony and Pentax, have a 1.5x multiplier. Olympus and other Four Thirds bodies have a 2x factor.

I reckon the 18-55mm kit lens will be roughly similar in quality to your existing 28-80mm, but you will really miss the wide angle. So unless you don't care about wide angle at all, I'd really recommend buying your Canon body with the 18-55mm - again even if only to increase its resale value.

Thanks for all of the advice, if I can find a deal with a lense kit I will go for that one. Another question about teh 1.6 multiplier, will I notice the multiplier while looking thorugh the viewer? Or will my lenses look normal until the photo is taken? I can see how this would get a bit confusing.

Thanks for all the great information! I had heard from a coworker that during one of his recent trips he downloaded all of his photos into his iPod and it worked really well for him. Is there anyway to to this with the Canon XT/XTi? Since I already have access to an iPod, it would be easy to do this instead of taking along a lap top. Thanks.